Electrical properties and leakage current behavior of un-doped and Ti-doped lead zirconate thin films synthesized by sol–gel method

Un-doped and Ti-doped (5, 10 and 15 mol%) antiferroelectric and ferroelectric lead zirconate–PbZrO3 (PZ) thin films were prepared by sol–gel spin coating method. All PZ films crystallized in the perovskite phase with full [111] pseudocubic orientation with a uniform microstructure. The paraelectric–ferroelectric phase transition temperature was found to shift to lower values and the electrical properties were found to degrade as a result of decreasing film thickness. The leakage current of the un-doped PZ films were dominated by the space-charge-limited current, whereas Poole–Frenkel conduction mechanism was found to be dominant at the Ti-doped films at high electric fields.